after the receipt of the missive of 23d March, to sit there as a supposed refuge, as a powerless protector.
“It was heart-rending to hear the complaints of ill-treatment, extortion, poverty, hunger, whilst I myself had, with a wife and child, to meet hunger and poverty!
“Neither could I betray the Government, I might not say to these poor people: ‘Go and suffer, for it is the will of the Government that you should suffer extortion.’
“I might not avow my impotence, one as it was with the shame and unconscionableness of the Governor-General’s counsellors.
“Here is what I replied:
“ ‘I cannot help you immediately, but I will go to Batavia; I will speak to the Governor about your misery. He is just, and he will assist you. Go now quietly to your home; do not oppose, do not remove—wait patiently: I think, . . . . I hope that justice will be done!’
“So I thought, ashamed as I was of the violation of my promise of help, to bring my ideas in harmony with my duty to the Government, which pays me still this month, and I would have continued thus till the arrival of my successor, if a particular occurrence had not obliged me to-day to put an end to this equivocal position. Seven persons had complained: I gave them the above-mentioned reply. They returned to their homes. The district chief met them on the way. He must have for-2C
